"Alright."
Li Ang nodded crisply and said to another family member of Shade, "Are you tired? If not, first wash your hands with pure wine, then go outside and pick a stick."
"A stick?"
"Yes, not a willow branch. Just a fairly hard, straight stick thicker than chopsticks. We need it to extract the worm."
Li Ang had Shade's younger brother go outside to pick up sticks. In the meantime, with quick efficiency, he finished setting the remaining bone injuries in the Security Hall. He had paid attention during his consultations, intentionally arranging patients with less severe injuries, whose functions had already been restored, to the back of the line. This is why the bone resetting was completed swiftly.
However, the patients whose bones had been reset did not leave but stayed inside the Security Hall to continue watching. After a while, a crowd had even formed at the entrance of the clinic, peering inside curiously.
"Young master, I've got the stick."
Shade's younger brother held up the stick high, sweating profusely as he squeezed through the crowd and rushed into the clinic.
Li Ang took the stick, tested its flexibility to ensure its hardness, then squatted on the ground, steadying himself with his Longsword, and whittled the stick down to the size of a matchstick.
"Done."
Li Ang returned the Longsword to the young man, stood up and stretched his limbs, brought over a chair, and sat down. He dipped a clean cloth in pure wine and gently wiped the pus from Shade's leg.
After preparing everything necessary, Li Ang held his breath and concentrated, gently lifting the Medina Dragon Worm extending from Shade's leg with the small wooden stick, coiling it around.
SNAP.
A segment of the worm bounced back and forth on the stick, but Li Ang's hand was extremely steady and heavy, coiling it around the stick again and again, gently tugging.
"Move aside, everyone. This kind of worm, if torn and killed inside the human body, can lead to juvenile worms escaping and causing inflammation. As long as the worm lives, the host lives; if the worm dies, the host dies."
With a calm voice, Li Ang had the onlookers disperse a bit. He continued to pull the worm's body steadily, while simultaneously gently massaging the surface of Shade's leg to relax the muscles, making it easier to draw out the worm.
One millimeter, two millimeters.
Amidst the astonished gasps of the crowd, the worm on the stick grew longer and longer, coiling into a bundle like a spindle.
The copper bell of the Haotian Taoist Sect chimed a few times, and Shade's wife and son were brought over, kowtowing to Li Ang as Shade had ordered. Some onlookers dispersed, while new ones arrived; by evening, many people still lingered in front of the Security Hall.
It took Li Ang a full ten hours to extract the entire worm from Shade's body. He breathed a sigh of relief, blinked his extremely sore eyes, and slowly stood up, holding the stick and rotating it gently.
The worm tumbled down from the stick, eliciting a new wave of gasps.
The worm was more than a meter long; it was hard to imagine how such a long Parasite could grow inside someone's leg and be removed intact without breaking.
"Fellow villagers, this is the Parasite you get from drinking untreated water."
After showcasing the worm, Li Ang spoke to Shade, "Now that the worm's been removed, your life is temporarily saved. The next step is to see if you develop abscesses, fever, or other complications within half a month.
"The chance of complications is exactly fifty percent.
"For the next half-month, you cannot eat snake, fish, or frog, and you mustn't drink untreated water again. You must drink boiled water that's been cooled. It would be best never to drink untreated water again.
"If there are no abscesses or fever, it means the worm has been completely removed, and you can recover."
"Absolutely, absolutely."
The patient's family members nodded emphatically. Shade's two sons wanted to make another grand gesture of thanks but were dissuaded by Li Ang. "Well then, this worm—does your family want it?"
"Huh?"
Shade's wife stood frozen in place, so Li Ang had to repeat, "This worm, do you want to keep it?
"Such a long Medina Dragon Worm is quite rare and has a certain collectible value. You could take it home, put it in a glass jar, fill it with wine to preserve it, and keep it as a memento.
"You can even display it to your guests to demonstrate the dangers of drinking untreated water."
"No, no."
Shade and his family shook their heads, their faces paling at the idea. What a joke—pickling centipedes or snakes in wine was one thing, but a Parasite? What madness.
Li Ang smacked his lips, looked at the worm on the stick, and shook his head. A Medina Dragon Worm over a meter long is indeed very rare; I could try breaking a Guinness World Record with it. It was only thanks to my skilled, steady hands that it was possible to extract it.
"Then I'll keep it myself."
He smiled and found a jar, put the worm inside, filled it with pure wine, then sealed the jar and labeled it with a paper marked "Medina Dragon Worm."
Having secured his first pathological sample, Li Ang felt refreshed and turned to Shade. "Right, let's settle the consultation fee. Although your case isn't a bone injury, I mentioned yesterday in front of the Pasture Supervisory Office that today's clinic fee would be twenty cents for everyone."
"Twenty cents?"
Shade's younger brother hurriedly shook his head. "How could that be enough? Twenty cents can't even buy a portion of soy-sauce duck! Doctor Li, your miraculous healing saved my elder brother's life. Your accepting only twenty cents shows your benevolent heart as a Doctor, but if we really only gave you twenty cents, that would be a disservice on our part. After all, our family owns a cargo ship and has a business in Yizhou City..."
Before he could finish speaking, a ruckus arose from outside the doors of the Security Hall.
"Li Ang! Li Risheng! Get that brat out here! He's crushed my brother's hand!"
"Don't block the way! Move aside!"
Hmm?
Li Ang furrowed his brow and looked outside.
He saw five men dressed in short-sleeved attire, looking rather unsavory, standing at the entrance of the Security Hall, shouting loudly and brandishing clubs. Li Ang recognized one of them; he had set the man's bone earlier that day.
"Doctor Li, this afternoon, you crushed my brother Zhao Si's hand. How are you going to account for this?" the leader of the group said lazily, a thin twig in his mouth and a club resting on his shoulder. "My brother works at the docks carrying packages, earning one hundred cents a day. Now that you've crushed his hand, you should at least compensate him for a hundred days' worth of medical expenses, shouldn't you? If you don't compensate, who's going to take care of his livelihood, huh?"
"Crushed?"
Li Ang cast a cold glance at them. These men had tattoos on their arms; they were clearly local ruffians. Have flies come knocking so soon?
Li Ang's heart remained indifferent. He picked up the wine jar containing the worm and stepped forward. "Where is it crushed? Let me have a look."
"What if looking at it makes it worse? I say, you should just be sensible and pay my brother his medical expenses..."
The lead troublemaker sneered and took a step forward.
WHOOSH—
A sharp sound of a Sword being drawn suddenly rang out. The young man who had lent Li Ang the treasure sword swiftly drew it and swung, the tip of the Sword halting right at the ruffian's forehead.
How fast. Li Ang's eyes widened slightly. He had just been about to smash the wine jar with the worm onto the ruffian's forehead and had barely seen the young man's drawing motion.
"Take one more step forward, and you die," the young man spoke slowly, his voice devoid of warmth.
"HMPH."
The ruffian contemptuously chewed on the twig in his mouth. Having been a bully in Yizhou City for so long, he had seen all sorts of situations. Just as he was about to utter some harsh words to scare this noble scion who fancied himself a Swordman, he felt a chill on the top of his head.
Blood streamed before his eyes, followed by intense pain in his scalp.
"AH! AH!"
The ruffian belatedly realized what had happened. He staggered back several steps, clutching his scalp, which had been split by the Sword tip, and screamed in pain.
The other ruffians were also startled. They had seen tough guys before, but never someone who would slice off a man's scalp without a word of warning.
"If any of you appear here again, I will kill all of you," the young man said, his tone indifferent, as if he were discussing something trivial.
Looking into his calm eyes, a wave of fear inexplicably rose in the ruffians' hearts. They didn't even dare to utter a threat. They lifted their companion, squeezed out of the crowd, and scurried away in defeat.
Li Ang looked at the young man and hesitated before cupping his hands in a salute. "Thank you, sir. May I know who you are...?"
"Just an idle passerby," the young man interrupted. "We will meet again soon."
With those words, he sheathed his Sword, also cupped his hands towards Li Ang, smiled, and turned to leave.
Li Ang watched the young man's retreating figure, his brow furrowed.
Inside the Security Hall, Shade, still lying on the chair, whispered something to his younger brother. He instructed him to prepare the payment and also to investigate the identities of the ruffians who had come to cause trouble, and who might have been behind them.
Meanwhile, the young man who had left the Security Hall strode into an alley and knocked on the door of Pu Liuxuan's courtyard.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, its last rays illuminated the seemingly smooth Jade Pendant hanging at the young man's waist, revealing intricate and complex patterns.
Seven characters were engraved on it: "Academic Palace Patrol, Cheng Juxiu."